Page 22: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (October 15, 1973)

Helen Bentley To Be

Honored By Legion's

Robert L. Hague Post

The Robert L. Hague Merchant

Marine Industries' Post American

Legion has selected the Honorable

Helen Delich Bentley as the re- cipient of its Distinguished Service

Medal and Citation. Mrs. Bentley will receive this award at the

Thirty^Third Annual Guard of

Honor Ball to be held at the Wal- dorf-Astoria Hotel, New York,

N.Y., on Saturday, November 3, 1973.

Mrs. Bentley, a former news- paperwoman and now'Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission, is the first woman to serve in a key Government position in the maritime field, and also the first woman to be appointed by a Presi- dent to serve as chairman of a regu- latory agency.

A native of Ruth, Nev., Mrs.

Bentley is a paradox in that she grew up in Ruth and Ely some 8,000 feet above sea level, but is now recognized worldwide as an expert on the sea.

Because of her unusual ability and record, the University of

Maryland conferred an honorary degree of Doctor of Laws upon

Chairman Bentley in 1970. This was the first time in American history that such an award had been bestowed upon a Federal maritime official.

In 1971, Mrs. Bentley received an honory Doctorate of Humane Let- ters from Bryant College in Provi- dence, R.I., and that same year, her own alma mater, the Univer- sity of Missouri, selected her to re- ceive its most significant award—

The Faculty-Alumni Gold Medal.

Mrs. Bentley produced a half- hour television series on shipping in Baltimore and Philadelphia, which ran on Sunday afternoons for 14 years.

In 1941, she was selected by the

Elks National Foundation as the nation's outstanding high school girl graduate and then was present- ed with their number one national scholarship to the college of her choice. Chairman Bentley has re- ceived numerous other national honors for outstanding contribu- tions from various institutions throughout her career, including the Freedoms Foundation Honor

Medal Award.

She attended the University of

Nevada one year and then went to

Washington, DC., to work on

Capitol Hill for the late Senator

James G. Scrugham, whose cam- paign she had managed success- fully in two counties in Nevada before she was old enough to vote.

However, the determination to pur- sue journalism caused her to leave

Washington and complete her studies at the University of Mis- souri, from which she was gradu- ated in September 1944.

After brief stints with the United

Press and the Lewiston (Idaho)

Tribune, she joined the Baltimore

Sun in June 1945. As soon as the war was over and labor strife be- gan overtaking the nation, she was assigned to assist on the labor beat and shortly became the labor reporter. In 1948, she requested a change and was told to "go down and look at the port, we've had nobody there since before the war."

She is listed in Who's Who in

America, and numerous other in- ternational directories of dignitar- ies. The Ladies Home Journal al- so selected her as one of the 75

Most Important Women in the

United States.

Mr. and Mrs. William R. Bentley reside in Lutherville, Md.

She is the daughter of the late

Mike (Delich) Ivanesevich, born in Vedasic, Yugoslavia, and the late Mrs. Mary Kovac Grubich, born in Pakrac, Yugoslavia

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Helen Delich Bentley 14

Maritime Reporter/Engineering News